Open Your Eyes
by Ukyou
Summary: Sakura and Syaoran are no longer together. Going their separate ways, Syaoran hooks up with a girl who is also recently single. But what if Syaoran starts to have second thoughts about being with this girl? Would he break her heart to be with Sakura again
1. Chapter 1 Falling Out of Love

**Open Your Eyes **  
By Ukyou 

Dedicated to Elena Wu

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They say that at the very moment before you die, your whole life flashes before your eyes. All the small bits and pieces come racing from all directions only to explode in a rainbow of colors. Anyone else would've expected them to see the billion and one different experiences they had lived through.

I guess I was the exception.

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Introduction

"Look at me Syaoran." she said, kneeling down right in front of me. For some reason, when I looked at her, I still had that feeling inside of me. Her eyes, still beautiful, glowed like raindrops bathing in an eternal sunshine. "Don't worry about it."

"I'm looking at you." I replied, taking a breath. "And I've thought about it."

"Okay … so, do you want to do it?" she asked me, her head tilting to the side. "I mean, are you seriously willing to do this? I mean, maybe I'm just being impulsive again like you al-"

"Listen to me." I interrupted. "I'll do it. I don't believe in this stuff, but if it makes you happy, then I'll do it."

"Okay, then lie down Syaoran." she said. She put a cup of tea next to me for me to swallow it down with. "If this all works out, well … you know what'll happen."

"You're not going to do it are you?" I asked her, getting on my back.

"Syaoran … yes, I probably am."

"Promise me something." I said as I held her hand. "Don't."

"Okay, I promise."

She was such a liar.

"Syaoran, close your eyes."

Okay.

Chapter One - Falling Out of Love

It was like pressing your face against the window with the year's first snowfall outside. It was the feeling of holding someone near an open fire. It was the warmth of the freedom of flying in the air. Being with Sakura was like scanning a photo album at a million images a second. Just before I could tell her that I truly loved her, it was over.

And through everything that we had been through, just like that, it was gone.

It's strange how when you mutually agree to these kinds of things, you say you'll move on, but you never do. None of us ever do. We just easily presume that if we never see that person again, well, I guess you'd be starting with a brand new piece of paper with new people and a whole new environment. That's why I ran from Tomoeda. It's run-of-the-mill idiocy, I'm sure - but at the time, I felt like it was the best thing I could do. I had been around her for too long and she was too crucial a piece of my life that I needed to start over. Now that I say it out loud though, I just can't see the rationale in that. Heartbreak makes you do crazy things.

I remember how it started too. It had to do with those wind chimes I gave to her so long ago.

There were times when I woke up right there under them, their silhouettes imprinted by the late afternoon light of her window. Whenever either one of us moved around, these wind chimes would always go off. Sakura was a heavy sleeper and I'd always wake up before her. Then I'd be in this awkward situation with her holding me tightly and me not daring to move. So, I'd just lie down there and watch these wind chimes.

It's not like I minded it though. It was one of those moments in which you're on the beach and all you want to do is lay in the sand. Like floating in the ocean without a single care in the world.

And then there was one day in which those wind chimes just weren't there. They decided one day to sprout wings and soar out the window. I woke up wondering where the chimes had gone, and then turned my head to realize that Sakura was sleeping looking the other way. Something was wrong. Whenever I reached towards her, it seemed like unconsciously, she was inching away. Like she was being swept away by the ocean.

Five hours later, I found myself holding the phone and freezing on the seventh digit. There was a silence on the line. My finger touched the final number, a four. Then I pressed it, hoping that I wasn't about to make the biggest mistake of my life.

God, I wish I didn't do that. If there was one thing I wished I had never done, it was that right there.

In that thirty four minute conversation, she explained to me how I had never loved her. I didn't fight it, I felt like this was it and I should've just accepted it.

I'm always an idiot in situations where intelligence and common sense are valuable assets.

The next day, she came back. Her cheeks were pale, but the rest of her was a powder blue. She handed me a small box, wrapped in dragon whiskers. Then we had one of those moments where someone just needed to break an awkward silence, but she quickly turned around and began to walk away.

"Wait." I said to her.

She turned her head back at me, her hair concealed under her pink hat.

"Wait for what?" she asked, her voice delicate, so delicate that I felt like it could just disappear at any second.

I leaned against the frame of my door, looking up towards the sky as if it was the only way I could get a clear thought into my head.

"I don't know Sakura, just … wait for me to think of something to say." I responded, followed by a deep sigh.

"Syaoran. I gave you so much time already. Look … " she edged in closer to me. " … Syaoran, I have to go. Just don't go and throw that box away like most guys would. Just promise me that much."

But she didn't wait for a response, she just started walking home from there.

"I promise"

---

I woke up on my couch, facing the ceiling. I looked around, wondering if someone was here. Nothing. Checking the floor, I found a cold cup of tea on the floor. I had been sleeping for awhile. Funny, I didn't remember falling asleep here.

And sitting in an empty apartment was something new to me.

I just wanted her to come running through that door again and jump onto the couch. It used to annoy me so much, but god, I would've done anything for her to do it again. Just the thought of her being here gave me so much comfort. Sakura.

The television became a box of moving images and I laid down on my couch staring at the ceiling. There were no stars this time, no dock. Just a white ceiling in front of me.

I turned off the tv, my tea still untouched on the floor. I took a deep sigh, wondering what I should do now. Life was so unscripted now. The weirdest part was that I felt like life was unscripted my entire life, but I guess you don't really know what that means until it really happens. That radical change that comes with your past two years being stored in an old shoebox.

I needed to get out of there. I had no reason to stay here anymore. I just needed some escape from that environment.

So, with a bag on my back, four sandwiches, and twenty four dollars, I jumped onto my motorcycle and drove far, far away. I always planned to come back, but I never did. I just kept going, the freedom of a paved highway having consumed whatever had been on my mind earlier.

And I really don't know why I didn't come back. Really, I guess it was just an impulse. Kind of like, when you see something one day and you know you just want it. I saw a movie once about a guy who traveled around South America with his best friend on a motorcycle and decided that he needed to change the world. Maybe I just craved that kind of adventure and used this as the perfect reason to start doing so.

Or maybe I was so desperate to change my life after losing her that I needed to take this giant leap of faith of something. I don't know. Something was calling me at the other end of this highway.

I was a hundred miles away, soaring with the wind racing behind me.

****

to be continued

Author's Note: I sat up late tonight. I looked at my old ffnet account and realized, it was about time to write a new story. One that was actually completed.

It's weird how you start off a story, but then you get crazy ideas as it goes on. This story, now completed as I write this, has turned into something much more different than what I originally planned.

This was going to be a revision of my past story_ Careful Where You Stand _(which I thought was really terribly written). Thankfully, I decided to change the story midway.

Anyways, reviews are the greatest gift in the whole world you can give to an author. And be sure to keep up to date with this story, I plan on releasing chapters every two days.


	2. Chapter 2 Ordinary People

Open Your Eyes

By Ukyou

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Her face was hidden in a sea of petals, laying on the dock. Her hair was spread out into a shapeless wisp, her eyes illuminated by the moon above us. She looked towards me and smiled. I smiled back.

The stars were scattered across the night sky, a can of glitter spilled on a black table. I could taste the salt that was floating in the air, _I could hear the water that shyly edged the sides of the dock. _

"Sakura, right now … I feel like this is where I want to be. I'm just … happy." I said to her, her glowing face making my heart spin in circles. Then she smiled.

"Syaoran, you have no idea what's going on, do you?" She asked me in a tone I had never heard before. It was like hearing an alarm clock blasting in your ears. "It's not me. It wasn't me."

"Syaoran, open your eyes."

"Open your eyes."

---

Chapter Two - Ordinary People

One. Two. Three.

I wish I could forget about all of this.

Splash.

I never thought I was the superstitious type. I had been raised in a life of superstition, but as I grew up, I gradually accepted some and abandoned others. I don't know why I suddenly felt like throwing something into the lake. It seemed so natural. The coin's gleam was lost to the rigors of being carried around all the time. After I threw it, I kinda felt like going to get it again - but it was already too late. There was a dock far off with a pretty cherry tree perched right next to it. Maybe the next time I come around here, I'll try to throw a coin and hit that dock. Yea right.

There was some kind of supernatural beauty about this forest. The road wound through it like a ribbon in a cloud of grass. It ended somewhere out there, leading towards some city or town or somewhere else that was just so cloudily mysterious.

Still, there was some stillness that had overtaken me here. It was calm. It was nature at its greatest. A completely different place from the outside world, this was somewhere safe. Somewhere secluded.

Then I had a bit of an impulsive thought. I took the old brown book bag off my back and finally opened it, reaching in to find Sakura's package. It was a musky smell opening that bag, the box's snow white now a dirty dusty gray. As if it hadn't been taken out of there for years.

No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't get myself to open it. My hands shook, but gave no response. This wasn't the time or place to open this thing. No, it was time to go. Time to go.

And you know what, when riding and looking forward, its so easy to just set yourself to autopilot and to just think. Daydream. Remember something.

---

****

A month earlier

The one thing I hated was to be seated next to someone that I didn't know at all. Past an awkward hello, I'd do my best to make sure I didn't say anything. It was better if I had a window seat, because then I had something to keep myself busy with.

Today I was lucky. My luck had been running low, but today I finally got a window seat. The lucky passenger today was a girl, wearing a jacket that looked like it was two sizes too big for her. Her hair was a frantic everywhere, her face turned the other way.

I checked my messages on my cell phone - another dozen single word messages from Sakura, who seemed to forget that a cell phone could be used for talking too. These were followed by a single message that I had sent to myself as a reminder for something I did several days ago. I promptly deleted it.

Then came the long silence, when I would just sit and stare blankly out the window. I generally expected the other person to be just as quiet, doing something more wildly important than engaging in conversation with me. Maybe this person just wanted to be special or something,

"So, all you do is stare outside the window on these train rides?" she asked me, her face still turned the other way.

"Well, it's a part of my job." I answered, still looking outside.

"And what's that, a professional window watcher?" she replied. I was guessing by now that she was looking at me, but I couldn't tell.

"No, I'm a photographer." I said, finally facing her and showing her the camera that was wrapped around my neck. "I take photographs and I sell them to newspapers or magazines or anybody."

"Ah, well, same thing anyways. At least you have something steady going on. All I do is play piano." she sighed, slouching back in her seat and trying her best to hide behind her cap.

"I'm sure you can do other things too besides play piano."

"No, I mean - that's my job. I play piano for a living, crazy huh?" she grumbled. "I thought it would be this great thing, you know? Like, just drop out of high school and go all over the world and just play play play. Once I did it as a job though, it was such a drag."

"Well, if it means anything to you, I don't make much money either." I said back. She looked at me for a moment and laughed. I kind of laughed too, trying to pretend like I understood was we were laughing about.

"You know, we're really pathetic. We're just natural born losers." She said, still trying to hide a chuckle under her voice. "Well, my name is Kaori. Kaori Hideki"

I smiled, and answered her question. "My name is - "

"You're Li Syaoran, the photographer who regularly submits images to the newspaper I read. You don't think you're famous?" She laughed again, putting her hand on my shoulder as she cracked up.

"I never said I wasn't famous, I just said that I wasn't rich at all." I responded, waiting for her to let go of me. "You laugh really easily, don't you?"

"I don't laugh easily." She seemed to be a little annoyed with that comment. You could tell that a lot of people asked her that question just by the look she gave me. At least she finally got her arm off my shoulder. She was just a very strange, yet surreally interesting person.

She seemed to be really bad at being angry at someone, because she started laughing again for no reason at all. She made sure to inform me this with an "I'm sorry, I'm just laughing for no reason right now."

I smiled. "That's okay, laughing never hurt anybody."

She calmed down, resting back on her half of our seat. I went back to work, adjusting the small knobs of my camera.

"You know, Li Syaoran, I'm having a little show in Kyoto, I mean - we're obviously going there right now, and uh - if you want, you can always just drop in." she coyly looked at me. Her voice now was different, it spun in circles as if they were ready to just explode and scatter all over me. "…and I promise you a great photo opportunity, I mean, I'll be all dressed up and everything."

I was guessing that I was being asked out by this random stranger on this train. Right then, my phone beeped. I had a text message.

She then seemed a little hesitant. "You know, maybe I was being too … (oh god, what's the word) … forward. I'm sorry, I mean, I just met you today and suddenly … oh man, look at the mess I'm making."

I put my cell phone back in my pocket and thought about it for a moment.

"Actually, you know what - I'll go, I'll be there."

"Oh great! Amazing!" She just jumped on top of me and dug her face into my arm. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"You know, Syaoran, I don't usually have a guy to hang out with. Sucks being single, you know?"

Then it hit me right about then. I had a girlfriend already. What the hell was I doing.

Kaori finally sat back n her seat, a big smile painted all across her face. It was as if no one ever came to watch her play. I took out my cell phone to check what Sakura had to say now.

Hungry.

Wow. An exhilarating message, Sakura.

Message deleted.**to be continued**

Reviews are very much appreciated!


	3. Chapters 3 and 4 Kyoto and Reminiscence

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Open Your Eyes

By Ukyou

Author's note: It seems that a few people are a little confused. In the last chapter, Syaoran is thinking back to when he met this girl Kaori on a train. At the time, he was with Sakura. The pointless one-word messages from Sakura are just that: pointless. I was using this to show that there is a complete lack of connection between Syaoran and Sakura now, and this one time he's with Kaori, it's something he's been desperate to do - do something interesting with anybody.

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"It'll be like, well, we met that one day … but nothing came out of it." she said to me, her eyes showing some deep form of questioning. I'm sure she was just not sure anymore if this was the right thing to do.

"But I'll still remember you, I just don't remember us being together. I'll think I broke up with Sakura again … how will I know if I won't find you again?" I asked.

"Look at me Syaoran." she said, kneeling down right in front of me. For some reason, when I looked at her, I still had that feeling inside of me. Her eyes, still beautiful, glowed like raindrops bathing in an eternal sunshine. "Don't worry about it."

---

****

Chapter Three - Kyoto

The minute we left Kyoto Station, Kaori decided to give me a whole tour of the city. I told her on the train that I really had nothing much to do, and it just came back and bit me in the ass.

"The thing I absolutely love about this city is that its so much more - traditional. I mean, they're bulldozing away historical Kyoto, but I figure that there's still a whole lot of old Kyoto here." she said, dancing in circles as we walked. "I love these old wooden buildings."

She twirled her hair around her finger as she walked, the sleeves of her magnificently huge jacket rolled up. Then, she suddenly stopped me as her eyes lit up.

"There it is! That's the store!"

Strange. She didn't tell me she was looking for any particular store at all.

It was an odd building, its sign was barely nailed on. It looked like someone had just picked up a giant pile of junk and dropped it in the middle of Kyoto.

Five seconds after making this assumption, I had my hand grabbed by Kaori and was immediately thrown into this building.

It was dark inside. Not a mysterious dark, but an old dark. It seemed like dust had built up so much in this building that the sun had decided to just run away. Small jars lined the shelves, charms hanging by strings.

Leaves that if grounded and mixed with water can make a paste will make you irresistible to women.

Charms that ward away evil demons.

A pill that, if consumed, will allow you to forget any memory you want erased.

These were all fake potions and such. The kinds of things that only an idiot would buy.

And there she was … buying something.

---

Finally, Kaori's show.

The phone in my pocket rang again, so I checked. It was only a text message. Deleted.

Instead, I could feel the sharp edges of anticipation tapping the tips of my fingers. There were, surprising, many more people here than I had originally expected. Kaori had made her whole piano career seem like this whole disaster story. Everyone around me knew her name. There were others that could not stop talking about her. There were three other women playing piano that night, yet everyone was talking about this girl Kaori.

Then, when she came out, her awkward appearance had all but disappeared. There was no oversized coat, but instead, she wore a very elegant evening gown, the exact opposite of what I could imagine her wearing. Her face was something different too - refined, like a newly cut diamond. Her skin seemed as smooth and delicate as a thin shell of porcelain. She took a bow, and everyone in the room went crazy. She wasn't some low level nobody - she was a star. What a liar. It made me laugh.

When she told me she played piano, I thought that was all she did, but no. It turns out that she sang too, her voice was a feather playing in musical harmony. It was something so beautiful that you felt like you were wrapped in a warm blanket and you never wanted to let up.

Damn.

---

When it was all over, I waited for her outside. Then she came out, wearing that giant jacket again. She had transformed again.

"I thought you said that your whole life as a pianist was a drag." I laughed. "Look at you, you're like, a star and you tell me that you're unpopular."

"I never said I was unpopular." She replied. "I mean, I said it was a drag - but that didn't mean it wasn't doing well, you know?"

"Well, then what could possibly be making it a drag?"

Then I heard my phone ring again. I took it out, ready to read another exhilarating one-word message from Sakura. Strangely, I had no new messages. I looked up to see Kaori checking her phone and laughing. It wasn't her usual laugh though. No, it was more a laugh of defeat. She muttered something to herself, something about someone not being there to see her.

"Yea, I guess I lied when I said I was single." she admitted.

"Don't worry, I'm kind of taken too."

"No way."

"Yes way."

"Wow." She looked down at the ground, twirling her hair around her finger. "Then I guess we're just natural born losers then, aren't we?"

"I guess so."

She then thought for a moment, and then pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil. She walked over to a pole, put the paper against it and wrote on it. Walking back towards me, she held out the piece of paper.

"I'll tell you what. One day, if you ever lose that girl, just come to this address and find me, okay?"

"Okay."

"No, promise me."

"…fine, I promise."

"Good."

"Okay."

"So, I have to go now."

"Me too."

"Goodnight. I hope the show wasn't too boring."

"You've really got to stop doing that."

"I guess so."

"Okay."

I figured she had something she wanted to say, but before she could say them, those words got trapped somewhere and wouldn't come out. She looked at me for a second, then turned around and ran away.

Then I looked at the paper she gave me.

An address.

I folded it up and put it in my wallet.

Maybe I'd look for her one day.

Then I heard the phone ring again.

---

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Syaoran, have you ever seen a gasoline rainbow?

No, I don't think I have. I've seen rainbows from my garden hose though.

But those aren't accidental. I love it when I screw up and something beautiful comes out of it.

---

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Chapter Four - Reminiscence

It made me smile. Just remembering that crazy night when the rules were broken and the only constraint we could see or feel was the fatigue of our feet.

I'm flying down the highway and all I can do is smile about the girl I had promised. I mean, hell, it was a shallow promise on my part, but what if she was totally serious?

__

"I'll tell you what. One day, if you ever lose that girl, just come to this address and find me, okay?"

I pulled over and stopped my bike. I was in the middle of nowhere.

Her address was still in my wallet, having been smashed and crumbled with the usual mess that accompanied my money. She lived in Tokyo … so I guessed I was heading home.

Ah what the hell. I could use the trip.

So I turned around and headed back to Tokyo.

****

to be continued


	4. Chapter 5 Rainbows

****

Open Your Eyes

By Ukyou

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All my life I grew up thinking I was this terrible person.

But you're not a terrible person.

I know. But, don't you ever wish there was some way to just take all that away? I'd run away into the woods with my friends and I'd be the princess. I wasn't this ugly terrible girl, for once, I was someone else. I felt so great, it was like running outside after not seeing the sun for a whole year.

You know what?

What?

I think you're beautiful.

---

****

Chapter Five - Rainbows

The small piece of paper was hidden in my left hand. I took a breath, staring at the front of a large red door. I had my hand out ready to knock, but the fear of not being recognized had petrified that whole arm. Then, doing it quickly so I wouldn't be able to stall anymore, I knocked five times.

It was quiet for a few seconds. Then I could hear someone running down a flight of stairs. Then the door swung open.

And there she was, sans jacket, with a toothbrush sticking out of her mouth.

"It's 3:43 and you're still brushing your teeth?" I asked, having completely forgotten the whole speech I had written in my head.

Her mouth was filled with toothpaste, so she gave me a kind of strange grunt. She then stepped aside to let me in. She recognized me.

Her house looked more like a warehouse than a residence. Baskets of all shapes and sizes were scattered around the house. She had dozens of opened magazines stacked on top of each other on her coffee table.

I tried my best to find a spot on the couch that wasn't covered in newspaper, and sat down. In front of me was a television, the one part of the room that wasn't coated with periodicals.

"I'm so sorry, Syaoran." Kaori apologized as she walked out of her bathroom. "You got me while I was brushing. I'm a bit of a hygiene freak."

"It doesn't really show." I said, holding up a newspaper that was three months old. She gave me a grin that gave me the impression that I had found out some kind of well-hidden secret. She was a terrible liar.

"Well, I found your place." I said, holding up the piece of paper she had given me. I put it back into my wallet, promising myself that I'd keep it in there to not lose it.

"Yea, you did, and I'm glad." she sighed, walking over and lounging on the other corner of the couch. The papers crumbled as she sat on them. "I'm newly single too."

"Really? What was the reason?" I asked, following suit and making myself comfortable on her couch.

"Well, this is my house, so you spill first." She smiled. She kicked me a bit to make sure she had my attention.

"She dumped me because I didn't love her-"

"Oh wow, you won't believe this, but he dumped me for the same reason." she interrupted, her head shooting up and facing right at me.

"You're kidding me." I said. I didn't believe her.

"No, I'm totally serious. He called me up yesterday and just called it off."

I acted as if I finally believed her. She smiled back at me, probably for that very masquerade.

Then she put her head back down, staring at the ceiling. She put her feet on my lap, completely flat out resting on the couch.

"I love creating accidents and getting something absolute amazing from them." she then confessed to me. I thought it came out of nowhere. She obviously didn't think so.

"Really, do you?" I was doing my best to try and relate.

"Syaoran, have you ever seen a gasoline rainbow?" she then magically asked.

"No, I don't think I have. I've seen rainbows from my garden hose though." I answered. Her feet were still on top of me. I could see that she was comfortable.

"But those aren't accidental. I love it when I screw up and something beautiful comes out of it." she then said, getting up and coming closer to me.

She was so close to me that I could feel her breathe on my skin. Her eyes were clear, as clear as drops of water on a sunny day. Then, she whispered into my ear.

__

"…you're one hell of a rainbow, you know that?"

She really caught me by surprise.

__

"…and how do I know if this isn't some kind of strange impulse of yours?" I silently asked her.

__

"We learn by doing…" she whispered back as she pulled me in closer. ****

to be continued

This is random:

I'm from Jersey, where we don't pump our gas. I drive down to Pennsylvania one day and I stop at the gas station and waited for someone to pump my gas. Crazy how stupid we can be sometimes haha

And reviewing is the greatest thing you could possibly do!


	5. Interlude and Chapter 6 Fireflies

Open Your Eyes

By Ukyou

**Interlude - Syaoran's Dream**

"Syaoran Li." she said from across the room. It was a voice I had heard a million times before. It was as sweet as a freshly squeezed orange.

"Sakura?" I asked, looking around me. I couldn't see anything other than the brown walls of the room. Then, taking a glance in front of me, I could see her far far off in the distance.

"Syaoran Li." Sakura repeated. "Don't you realize what you're doing to yourself?"

"No, Sakura, what am I doing?"

"Syaoran, she's going to hurt you again." Sakura said, running towards me. "Don't you realize what is going on!"

"Sakura, what … you're …you definitely shouldn't talk at all!" I yelled back at her. Sakura was running right for me, but I didn't move an inch.

"Syaoran. If you make yourself forget these things, you're doomed to repeat them." she said, and then as she was running for me, she slowly disappeared.

Syaoran, you're doomed to repeat your mistakes if you forget what those mistakes were.

Then I heard Sakura's voice again.

"Syaoran, open your eyes."

… and then I woke up.Chapter Six - Fireflies

Its been six months since I hooked up with Kaori, yet I'm still having these strange dreams about Sakura. It's like I can't let go of something. I've done my best to try and just forget about her.

But Kaori was my breeze of fresh air. When she was around, I felt like a million suns were shining down on my heart, closing the gaping hole Sakura had left in me. I had been to what seemed to be about a thousand of her performances, and every time I saw her, she seemed even more beautiful than the time before.

"Syaoran?"

I shook when I heard someone say my name. Then I felt an arm reach around me. I held her hand. It was cold, just like the air around it.

"It's okay, just a crazy dream." I said back to her, it wasn't Sakura. It was Kaori. Her hands were smooth. "Just go back to sleep."

---

Her cheeks were a faded pink, a rouge that showed the disappearing cold in the midst of spring. She wore her trademark coat, flying out with her arms spread out like wings. She was far ahead of me.

"Come on! Come on! Syaoran, you're so slow!" she laughed, grabbing my hand as if she was the one pulling me up. It was a hill next to a beautiful dock. There was a tall cherry blossom tree at the top of it, shining down its petals into the water. I was here before, on my motorcycle excursion.

"Where exactly are you taking me, Kaori?" I asked her, trailing behind.

"I'm taking you to the most beautiful place in the world."

She led to me to the dock, the surface completely hidden under a sheet of pink and white. She got down on her back to stare at the infinite night sky.

"I love it here, you can see every star here." she said, looking at me.

Her face was hidden in a sea of petals, laying on the dock. Her hair was spread out into a shapeless wisp, her eyes illuminated by the moon above us. She looked towards me and smiled. I smiled back.

The stars were scattered across the night sky, a can of glitter spilled on a black table. I could taste the salt that was floating in the air, I could hear the water that shyly edged the sides of the dock.

Wait.

I had experienced this before.

No, there was no way.

But I definitely have been _here_.

I never brought Sakura here though.

Or maybe it was deja-vu.

"Syaoran, is something wrong?"

"Syaoran?"

---

Author's note: Did I mention that there's a plot twist? Crazy.


	6. Chapter 7 Extra Ordinary Thing

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Chapter Seven - Extra Ordinary Thing

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A few months earlier

I parked my motorcycle, thinking about what she had just asked me to do.

The past month has been a crazy mess of just everything. It was far from the gasoline rainbow she had described, it was a combination of both of us wanting to get back together, then us not wanting to be together, to figuring out that it just couldn't work ever again, and then returning to step one.

She came up with this idea once to make sure I wouldn't become all crazy about her suddenly, because according to her, that's what got this mess started in the first place. Actually, I know I'm going crazy over her. Still, it was a strange idea, but an idea that seemed to be what she wanted. I mean, we've been long over - but I was willing to do it.

She was going to make me take pills that would erase our whole relationship from my memory. The ones she bought at Kyoto when I first met her. I would wake up and think that Sakura and I broke up the night before. I'd only remember Kaori from that one day I met her, and that would be it. She would've been that past tense friend that you meet and then they're forever gone from your life.

I was just hoping that this wasn't one of her sporadic impulses. I really didn't think those pills did anything either. They were just fool's gold, I was so sure of that.

Kaori arrived at my house at 8:30.

"It'll be like, well, we met that one day … but nothing came out of it." she said to me, her eyes showing some deep form of questioning. I'm sure she was just not sure anymore if this was the right thing to do.

"But Sakura and I split a long time ago. What will I think happened in that gap of time?" I asked. My fingers were tense. I was shaking.

"I don't know, Syaoran. Maybe it won't even matter. I mean, maybe you'll wake up and just think you guys just broke up. I don't know. Maybe all along, you'll think you were with Sakura." she responded. Uncertainty clouded her explanation.

"But I'll still remember you, I just don't remember us being together. I'll think I broke up with Sakura again … how will I know if I won't find you again?" I asked.

"Look at me Syaoran." she said, kneeling down right in front of me. For some reason, when I looked at her, I still had that feeling inside of me. Her eyes, still beautiful, glowed like raindrops bathing in an eternal sunshine. "Don't worry about it."

"I'm looking at you." I replied, taking a breath.

"Okay … so, do you want to do it?" she asked me, her head tilting to the side. "I mean, are you seriously willing to do this? I mean, maybe I'm just being impulsive again like you al-"

"Listen to me." I interrupted. "…I'll do it. I don't believe in this stuff, but if it makes you happy, then I'll do it."

"Okay, then lie down Syaoran." she said. She put a cup of tea next to me for me to swallow it down with. "If this all works out, well … you know what'll happen."

"You're not going to do it are you?" I asked her, getting on my back.

"Syaoran … yes, I probably am."

"Promise me something." I said as I held her hand. "Don't."

"Okay, I promise."

She was such a liar.

"Syaoran, close your eyes."

Okay.

One. Two. Three.

I can still remember her.

What am I doing?

If I forget about everything that happened between us two … then aren't I doomed to make the same mistakes again? Isn't this the same thing as killing off the Syaoran I had become while being with her?

They say that at the very moment before you die, your whole life flashes before your eyes. All the small bits and pieces of your life come racing from all directions only to explode in a rainbow of colors. For anyone, you would've expected them to see the billion and one different experiences they had lived through.

Well, in that case, I guess I was the exception.

I closed my eyes to the sight of wind chimes hanging from the ceiling, all to the melody of a music box that was missing one of its notes. Sakura loved that song so much.

Damn. What the hell am I doing.

It's the last time I'll be able to remember, and I'm thinking about someone else.

Kaori? Kaori?

You're so terribly impulsive, I swear.

Are you still there?

Why did I even agree to take that damn pill?

I don't think I remember our first date, or our first dinner.

Oh my god, Kaori it's actually working.

I don't want to forget you.

Kaori, I want to stop this.

I don't want to forget you.

And with that, I tried to hold onto that last image of her in my head. When I wake up, I won't remember anything about her. I'll think that I was with Sakura … that's what Kaori told me. All I have to do is think about Sakura. Right now. If I think about her, then I'll think that I just broke up with her. Or vice versa.

No, don't do that. Remember Kaori.

And then I saw it. Well, first I heard it - chimes. The ringing faded in and out of context, the sunlight shining down on my eyes. I was staring at those chimes as they swung like shadows hanging from a windowsill.

__

"Syaoran. I gave you so much time already. Look … Syaoran, I have to go. Just don't go and throw that box away like most guys would. Just promise me that much."

Sakura?

The box.

You put those wind chimes in there. You gave them back to me.

I kept them.

I kept my promise.

And with that thought in mind, I finally fell asleep.

---

I woke up on my couch, facing the ceiling. I looked around, wondering if someone was here. Nothing. Checking the floor, I found a cold cup of tea on the floor. I had been sleeping for awhile. Funny, I didn't remember falling asleep here.

And sitting in an empty apartment was something new to me.

I just wanted her to come running through that door again and jump onto the couch. It used to annoy me so much, but god, I would've done anything for her to do it again. Just the thought of her being here gave me so much comfort. Sakura.

The television became a box of moving images and I laid down on my couch staring at the ceiling. There were no stars this time, no dock. Just a white ceiling in front of me.

I turned off the tv, my tea still untouched on the floor. I took a deep sigh, wondering what I should do now. Life was so unscripted now. The weirdest part was that I felt like life was unscripted my entire life, but I guess you don't really know what that means until it really happens. That radical change that comes with your past two years being stored in an old shoebox.

I needed to get out of there. I had no reason to stay here anymore. I just needed some escape from that environment.

So, with a bag on my back, four sandwiches, and twenty four dollars, I jumped onto my motorcycle and drove far, far away. I always planned to come back, but I never did. I just kept going, the freedom of a paved highway having consumed whatever had been on my mind earlier.

And I really don't know why I didn't come back. Really, I guess it was just an impulse. Kind of like, when you see something one day and you know you just want it. I saw a movie once about a guy who traveled around South America with his best friend on a motorcycle and decided that he needed to change the world. Maybe I just craved that kind of adventure and used this as the perfect reason to start doing so.

Or maybe I was so desperate to change my life after losing her that I needed to take this giant leap of faith of something. I don't know. Something was calling me at the other end of this highway.

I was a hundred miles away, soaring with the wind racing behind me.

****

To be continued

Author's Note: Because I know this chapter will confuse somebody, basically, this whole chapter happened before Syaoran ran off in chapter one. Now, if you're still confused as to what happened, read it again! And don't forget to review! It makes my day when I check my e-mail and get review alerts.


	7. Chapters 8 and 9 and Finale

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Open Your Eyes

by Ukyou

Author's Note: Because I'm leaving for college on Thursday, I'm uploading the rest of the story now. The following are Chapters Eight and Nine and the Finale. I really hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Reviews, of course, are encouraged. It would be great to be able to read reviews on the last day of summer. It would make my day even if you left an insignificant one-word review. Reviews rock.

On with the story.

Chapter Eight - Holes to Heaven

Her home, for once, wasn't bright. It was a cloudy day outside, almost deliberately. Her living room was filled with the sound of a clock ticking, as if it were counting down the time left for something to happen. She sat on a chair on the other side of the room. I sat on the couch.

Her words now were like the small type at the bottom of a piece of paper. Something had taken over my head, these thoughts of deja-vu. Whenever we did something, it fell through this giant hole in my head. Nothing made sense anymore. Our experiences were plagued with feelings of "something is wrong".

Sakura … I had seen her in my dreams telling me that something was being repeated, but I didn't know what could be. Kaori and I were falling apart and I didn't know why. I had no idea why.

I could see her in front of me, climbing a ladder to go up to the attic. She stopped at the top, looking back at me. She was concerned. I could tell by the pitying look on her face.

Then, suddenly, I popped a random question.

"Kaori." I called. She responded with a weak "What?"

"You now that store in Kyoto? I was just wondering. Do you think I could take some of those amnesia pills they sell and possibly forget that right now, I'm just being a total asshole to you?" I asked her. She gave a short sigh and walked over to me. She seemed to have an infinite amount of patience with me.

"Syaoran, even if you could forget anything, you'd be doomed to do it again. Listen to me Syaoran, whatever it is that is bothering you - just please, just tell me what it is. I'm worried about you." she replied, holding back something. Maybe it was her tears, I could see trickles of water building up in her eyes.

I got closer to her, she got down next to me.

"Kaori, I don't know what it is."

---

I made myself a cup of tea, lying down on her couch. I put it down on the floor. Kaori was foraging through her attic for a box of her old books. This morning, she decided suddenly that she wanted to find her old copy of The Little Prince. She is the most impulsive person I've ever known.

"Whoa, what is this?" she then said from the attic. It caught my attention, I ran over to the attic's door, looking up as she motioned me to come up.

It was an old shoebox, opened to reveal what seemed to be an ocean of photographs and letters.

"Syaoran, look at this." she said, her voice faint. She picked up a picture at the top of the pile. It was a picture of me and her. A random picture of the two of us hidden in her basement. A picture we had never taken. There were letters, my address fading in the corners. In black ink, in my handwriting. I never wrote any of these.

I stayed silent. I could hear Sakura's voice bouncing around off the walls of my head.

Syaoran, you're doomed to repeat your mistakes if you forget what those mistakes were.

Kaori was just as quiet, shockingly quiet. She searched through the box to find more photos and other curiosities - a lonely left glove, an old now-brown dried-up flower, two tickets for the Giant Sky Wheel in Tokyo. These were the kinds of things that were supposed to make your memories spark up and appear suddenly in your head. But, looking at Kaori, I could tell she was just as clueless as I was.

"Kaori … what is all of this…?" I asked her. She was silent for a few moments, until she finally looked back at me.

"Syaoran … I don't know." She replied. "I mean, I don't remember ever … I never have seen these before … this isn't some kind of prank of yours, is it?"

"Kaori, it wasn't me, I swear … I'm just as clueless as you are." I said back, her face changed into something else. She was looking for some kind of sense to what was happening. None of this made any sense.

Then she found something that would make sense of it all, finally.

Another letter, but this one wasn't from me. Apparently, she wrote a small note to herself some time ago. She read it to herself, starting to lose control of that wonderful mechanism that kept her from crying. I could tell she was done reading when she took a deep breath. She handed it to me, motioning for me to read it to.

---

__

Kaori

Sorry.

Those pills you bought in Kyoto, the ones that erase people's memories - well, they work.

You know, you're such an idiot. You're such an impulsive idiot. How could you go and do such a thing?

Breaking up with Syaoran was enough - I mean, really … I don't know.

You're an idiot for falling in love with him and throwing that away. And you're an idiot for making him take those stupid pills to make him forget about you. You know why he took them? Because he wanted you to be happy.

I didn't want to throw any of this away. I knew you'd probably find this thing up here.

And just to sum it up, because I know you're confused… this all happened you're impulsive. That's all. You pitied him for that whole Sakura thing, everything went fine and then suddenly, you just hated him. You simply decided one day that he annoyed you and you just dropped him.

And now he's forgotten about you. Or me.

It's my turn to forget about him.

Kaori

---

I finished reading it, she leaned against one of the walls. Her face was imprinted with a stone gaze, her eyes frozen and aimed towards a random part of her floor. I spoke.

"Kaori."

"Syaoran…"

She was twirling her hair around her finger. She looked at me and then quickly looked back towards the floor.

"Kaori, do y-"

"No, Syaoran … it's okay … it's just really weird." she answered. She was shaking, and it seemed like she was trying to stay as far away from the shoebox as possible. "I don't know … what to say."

"It's okay."

"Syaoran … we had something before."

"Yea."

"Yea …"

"And it didn't work out?" she then asked, looking up at me finally.

"I … I guess not."

"So, do you think … I mean … Syaoran, do you think-"

"No, I … I mean … I don't know … but no I don't. You're too impulsive and I'm too brooding."

She then gave me a small smile.

"You really don't remember anything?"

"No, I don't."

"Well … me either"

Then we both laughed. An awkward laugh.

I came closer to her, but she edged away. This seemed like a similar situation. She tried her best to hide her tears.

"Syaoran … just … I don't deserve you … I don't want you to make the mistake of being with me again …" she said. Her lips barely moved. Her fingers moved frantically. "Syaoran, I think you should go."

"So do I." I responded.

Then she looked up, as if it were the only way she could possibly think of something to say. She cleared her throat with a small cough, her head behind her head as she sat. "Just don't forget me this time, okay?" she asked.

"Kaori, are you sure you don't think it can work out this time?"

It was quiet for what seemed to be a countless amount of time. I waited for her to answer. Then she finally said it.

"Syaoran … it was fun."

I nodded slightly, pausing to look at her, and then headed back downstairs.

"Syaoran … wait." she suddenly said. Her voice was as faint as a feather caught floating on a breeze.

"What?" I asked her, turning around.

She looked down, still twirling her hair around her finger. "I guess we're really losers now, aren't we?"

I didn't have an answer. I thought about it for a minute. Standing on top of a ladder, there isn't a lot you can possibly think about saying. Still, you always have that one line that you want to get across - but this one time when I needed it, it got stuck in my throat and wouldn't come out.

I'm always an idiot in these situations.

I took my last look of her. She was looking the other way, out the window. It was raining.

"Syaoran, I know you're still here … just please go."

And with that, I walked downstairs, put on my jacket and my helmet, and headed back to my motorcycle.

Maybe she was being impulsive. Maybe I was being impulsive. Maybe it was because we felt our hearts racing so fast that we were too afraid to really do anything. When I drove off, I thought to myself a thousand times that I should've turned around. It didn't change anything though.

I never saw Kaori Hideki again.

---

****

Chapter Nine - Sakura Kinomoto

Standing outside Sakura's door, I knew that I was probably going to say something stupid. I had figured out what I was going to say while riding here. I had known her for years. She was the old friend that I now discovered I had not seen in years.

Then I knocked. Five quick ones. I heard someone say something from inside. Then the door opened.

"Sakura?"

"Syaoran?"

She looked different. Her hair was longer, and there was something missing from her face. It was like she was living without actually truly living. Like her heart had been smashed into a million pieces.

"Syaoran, it's been … a really long time." she said, standing in her doorway. I smiled at her, shyly.

"Yea, it has been. You won't believe what I just went through." I laughed. It wasn't really funny to me. I really don't know why I laughed right then.

"Me too. Me too" Sakura then laughed. We both laughed at ourselves for a little, followed by a resigning "Well…"

"I came to give you something, Sakura." I then remembered, reaching into my bag. I took out the small box she gave me, messily tied shut with dragon's whiskers. You could tell at one point, I had opened it. The box gave a small chime as I handed it to her. She looked at it and showed a sad smile.

"Sakura … I, well, I have to go." I finally said. I could feel snowflakes melting on my face. "I mean, I thought I'd just give you that and be on my way."

Then we had one of those moments where someone just needed to break an awkward silence, I slowly turned around and headed back home.

"Wait … Syaoran." she then yelled, still holding the box in her hand.

"Wait for what Sakura?" I faced her. She seemed so far away with the snow thickening.

"Syaoran, would you like to come inside for some tea or something? I mean … it's been a long time. Let's just … lets talk over some things." she offered, looking at me with a sincere smile.

I looked at her for a second or two. I knew I had nothing to do, that if I were to make up some kind of clever excuse, it would be because I didn't want to cause any trouble for me or her. But then something cut through all that questioning and shot out my mouth.

"Sakura … okay. Tea sounds good." I answered.

"Okay."

"Okay."

****

Ending - Never Forget

She wore a pink flower in her hair. The snowflakes glittered as she moved. Her every action beckoned of an angelic impression. She was beautiful, and even as we rose higher and higher above the city's sea of lights, all I could do was stare at her. I could look at her forever.

"You know, Syaoran. They say that if you throw one of your gloves off the Giant Sky Wheel, you will be granted one wish." she said, resting her head on my shoulder. She took her right glove off, holding it in front of my face.

"Make a wish Syaoran." she then whispered to me. All around us, Tokyo glowed brilliantly. I took the glove and tossed it through one of the openings.

"There, I did it." I said to her.

"What did you wish for?" she asked, looking up at me. The moonlight reflected off her brown eyes. I had never felt so much more in love.

"I wished that we could be trapped in this moment forever."

She giggled and held me tightly.

"Syaoran, promise me that you'll never forget this moment." she then said, holding me as if I were about to float away. I put my arms around her. At this moment, it was just me and her. We were all alone at the top of the world and I couldn't be in a more perfect place.

"I promise."

fin

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Special Thanks

Chris-kun - You were the first person to read this story. Your insight helped me figure out the different twists and turns this thing could possibly take and trying to explain the story to you alone at first was plenty of fun. Your comments and criticisms were absolutely priceless.

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Brie - You found all those small grammatical errors that I was too lazy to find myself. I can only imagine what would've happened if you hadn't read this thing.

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Xiaoyu and Akane - for also reading this thing before I released it.

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Elena - You've always been the greatest to me. You're so beautiful inside and out and you've inspired me in about a million and a half ways. Thank you so much, Elena.

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Vanilla - The one faithful reader of mine. When I started writing this thing, I was thinking about you and really wanted your screen name or anything just to contact you for an opinion. As usual, however, you're on the receiving end of the finished product. I hope this story was as good, or better, than the other ones.

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Animegamer - For inspiring me to write in the first place.

...**_and the greatest readers ever who reviewed or commented:_**

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you all rock my socks

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…._and of course_

You! (insert your name here)! - for actually reading this thing!


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